28th April 2010

A beginner's guide to the opera (or perhaps not!)

by James Coles

THE idea of the pop artist moving into the classical field is not a new one. Off the top of my head I can think of Paul McCartney (who has released a further three classical albums since his initial foray in 1991, Liverpool Oratorio) and Elvis Costello (who followed in Paul’s footsteps with Il Sogno in 2004). I’m sure if I thought about it a little longer I could come up with a few more.

But moving from pop to opera - that most highbrow of musical genres - well, that’s an altogether different proposition. The likes of Charlotte Church might have moved in the opposite direction, but she never actually wrote an opera to my knowledge!

Roger Waters, the self-styled genius of Pink Floyd, tried his hand with Ça Ira, based on the story of the French Revolution. A well received, unsurprisingly overblown piece - with over 500 artists involved in the 2006 Polish production - it might have been an opera but nevertheless had Waters’ trademark all over it.

But of all the other great songwriters in that all-encompassing oeuvre called ‘pop,’ perhaps one of the most likely candidates to try their hand at opera was always going to be Rufus Wainwright.

A singer-songwriter in the Elton John tradition, Rufus is known for his ‘popera’ style which seemed to make his progression to full-blown opera a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’. His affecting, personal style of writing often invokes the themes of tragedy associated with opera.

In fact, the story of his life so far could make a great opera; his difficult relationship with his father (singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III), the death of his loving mother (singer-songwriter Kate McGarrigle) and the playful rivalry between him and his sister (singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright).

Add in Rufus’ addiction to crystal meth in the early 2000s, as well as the ups and downs of his musical family, and you’ve got yourself a great story.

Yet, I digress. Rufus has written an opera but it’s not about himself. Prima Donna originally opened in Manchester last year and recently finished it’s first (and possibly last) run in London. I went to Sadler’s Wells in Islington for the final of the four scheduled performances in the capital.

I’ve never been to the opera before and it says a lot about my tastes in music that the first time I go it’s because the piece carries the name of someone not associated with the genre.

Although I could wax lyrical about any rock concert you could throw at me, reviewing an opera... well, I don’t know where to start. To be honest, at times I wished that that I could mute the singers and just listen to the orchestra (the Royal Ballet Sinfonia) but I just put that down to being an opera philistine.

It wasn’t until the resumption after the interval that I realised that Prima Donna - by opera standards - might not actually be any good. A number of people sat near me did not return to their seats and I wasn’t entirely sure why. I’m sure my feet weren’t particuarly smelly, and was positive I hadn’t done anything to upset anyone’s operatic sensibilities!

Yes, the story was rather non-existent (an ageing opera singer - possibly inspired by Maria Callas - anxiously prepares for her comeback in 1970s Paris, falls in love with a journalist, has her heart broken, calls off comeback) but I’d been warned that operas are never renowned for the plot lines anyway.

The main performers, including celebrated Scottish soprano and Covent Garden regular Janis Kelly, all sang with the level of passion and gusto you’d expect.

So what was wrong with it? Well, you’d need to ask an opera expert, not a novice, for the answer to that. But the newspapers confirmed my fears that this was not a well received piece.

“After many minutes of cumulative bathos, you long for something to happen - anything,” bemoaned Fiona Maddocks in The Observer. I agree things were a little slow, but I thought that was the norm.

I did notice there weren’t any gripping arias - something that you’d expect from any opera, surely? - to make the evening go a little faster. But did I think it “at best banal, at worst boring” (Lynne Walker, The Independent)? That, perhaps, is a little harsh.

But if the libretto hadn’t been written in French, I do think the whole thing would have been laughable (an opera in English is not on my list of things to see before I die).

Has it encouraged me to return to the opera? Well, if it was Rufus’ intention to introduce a new, younger generation to the genre, I’m not sure it’s worked.

I think if I did go again, I’ll give the modern stuff a miss, head to the Royal Opera House and hope something like Tosca or Don Giovanni is on instead.

PICTURE: FROM POP TO OPERA - Rufus Wainwright's Prima Donna has just made its London debut

A beginner's guide to the opera (or perhaps not!)

A beginner's guide to the opera (or perhaps not!)

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